Not applicable.
The present invention is generally directed to a process for analyzing agricultural products at one or more locations. More particularly, the invention relates to a process for analyzing the traits of various agricultural products including a plant seed, the resulting crop, food items made from the crop, and the like, at various locations where the agricultural crops can be evaluated. The invention also relates to the system for acquiring data at remote site locations, transmitting the data to the central processor for data analysis, and receiving and displaying processed information at those locations.
There are numerous instances where one or more properties of an agricultural product are preferably analyzed at one or more locations where the product is found. Agricultural products may be analyzed for the presence and concentration of certain components during the crop growing stage, at harvesting, during transportation or after the product has been stored, as at a grain silo.
It is known to analyze certain components of a particular agricultural product at the location where the material is either grown, harvested, transported, or stored. It may be convenient or necessary for on-site analyzers to be able to be easily transported from one location to another. A portable sensor unit or spectrometer is one that is sufficiently compact and robust to permit it to be transported to alternate testing locations as needed. These units are able to be removed from service and returned to service quickly for transportation to and use at a desired site for analysis. The analytical instruments for such analysis must be rugged and capable of making repetitive analyses with little or no variation over the course of use of the unit.
Because the analysis of a particular agricultural product may need to be determined at locations over a wide geographic area within a narrow time frame, it is impractical to conduct the analyses using only one instrument. Generally it is necessary to test these products at multiple sites with multiple analyzers. The physical condition of the material samples being analyzed, for example the sample temperature, may be different at the various sites, so accommodations must be made in considering the results generated from the material samples.
As discussed herein, a primary measurement involves the use of an instrument or device to determine a characteristic or property of unknown magnitude by comparing the characteristic or property to a reference standard. The instrument used in generating the primary measurement is calibrated to display an output which can be used directly in defining the characteristic or property of interest.
In contrast, a secondary measurement is one produced by an analyzer not capable of measuring the desired property directly. Measurement data are generated, but that data must in turn be correlated into primary data before meaningful information about a characteristic or property of the material can be abstracted. Secondary measurements can be generated using spectroscopic equipment, such as by the use of, for example, the near-infrared and mid-infrared portions of the electromagnetic spectrum.
It is known to use near-infrared spectrometry and mid-infrared spectrometry in commercial processes to monitor the status of chemical reactions. This monitoring capability can involve the generation of secondary measurements with the application of statistical analysis to interpret and quantify the secondary measurement. For example, in the manufacture of carboxylic acids and derivatives from fats and oils, it is known to use near-infrared spectrometers loaded with the appropriate chemometric software to measure a number of properties of the carboxylic acids and their derivatives. This monitoring can be done during the manufacturing process on intermediate product, as well as on the finished product. The spectrometer can be operated in a stand-alone mode with the operator bringing samples to the spectrometer for at-line analysis. Alternatively, the spectrometer can be connected in line to enable monitoring of the process stream as the manufacturing operation proceeds. Thus, two commercially available near-infrared spectrometers such as the Bomem MB-160 FT-NIR spectrometer loaded with HOVAL software (Version 1.6, 1992) and AIRS software (Version 1.54, 1999) from Bomem Inc., Canada, and the Bruker Vector 22/N loaded with the Opus-NT Quant-2 software (Version 2.6, 2000) from Bruker Optik GmbH, Germany have been used to analyze intermediate and finished carboxylic acid products for acid value, iodine value, titer, stearic/palmitic acid ratio in commercial stearic acid, and for the presence of carboxylic acid methyl ester contaminants in a specific carboxylic acid. The calibration models for evaluating the above properties were derived from the Grams-PLS plus (Version 3.01 B, 1994, Galactic Industries Corporation) and Bruker Opus Quant-2. In determining the chemical properties of incoming raw materials such as tallow, coconut oil and palm kernel oil for the production of carboxylic acids, near-infrared spectrometry with appropriate chemometric techniques such as partial least squares (PLS) method has been used to evaluate the free carboxylic acid content of the starting materials, as well as iodine value and moisture content. The near-infrared monitoring can also be used to monitor the progress of the transesterification process utilizing fatty triglycerides and methanol as reactants. A near-infrared spectrometer connected to transesterification process equipment can also monitor free glycerine content, bound/combined glycerine content and methyl ester concentration. Alternatively samples can be taken during the progress of the reaction to a stand-alone near-infrared spectrometer loaded with appropriate calibration models for off-line analysis. In connection with the monitoring of the progress of a reaction, the near-infrared spectrometer can utilize a fiber optic probe connected to the spectrometer by fiber optic cable.
There is presently a high interest in the analysis of agricultural products. Genetically modified materials are of particular interest. The grain and food distribution segments in agriculture have expressed significant need for analytical technology to meet market requirements to identify and quantitate genetically modified crops, especially corn, in world markets. This need has developed rapidly. U.S. farmers have increasingly accepted crops derived from genetic engineering after the success they have experienced in the 1996 growing season. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated that approximately 25% of U.S. corn and 54% of U.S. soybeans produced in 2000 were grown from genetically engineered seed with input traits to provide resistance to herbicides, insecticides, or both. The composition of such input trait crops is generally macroscopically indistinguishable from similar crops without the corresponding input traits.
In contrast, the foods of the future which will incorporate improvements of direct benefit to the consumer likely will be based at least in part on crops having enhanced output traits. The composition of these enhanced crops is different from the corresponding conventional crops. Examples include high oil corn, high sucrose soybeans, and low linolenic canola. Genetically-enhanced crops can be produced either by genetic engineering, as enabled by recent advances in biotechnology, or by specially designed traditional breeding programs. Even traditional crop improvement practices can result in plants with changed genetics and enhanced properties.
The growth and the need for analytical technology for agricultural products has been the promulgation of labeling relations adopted in many regions of the world including the two largest agricultural commodity trading communities, the European Union and Japan. These labeling requirements have required or are expected to require food processors to label finished food products as to the genetically modified content of the ingredients used to produce these products. The initiation of labeling and the growing number of food processors electing to use raw materials which have not been genetically modified are driving the need for identity preservation.
Labeling specifications are nearing completion in both Europe and Japan. Identifying the genetic composition of grain in commercial crops and maintaining that identity throughout the agricultural complex to support labeling has become a high priority for seed companies, commercial growers, distribution and process companies, as well as food processors and is expected to increase as labeling is further implemented in the future.
A problem associated with the use of conventional testing procedures to determine whether seeds and/or crops have been genetically enhanced or to quantitatively determine the percentage of genetically modified substances in a material is that they involve an analysis of the genetic code, i.e., DNA of the seed crop, or of proteins produced by specific genes of the DNA. DNA testing such as this may be a time consuming or an expensive procedure, or may yield only semi-quantitative results. Furthermore, these types of analyses do not determine the effectiveness of the genetic code in modifying the chemical composition of an existing output trait or in creating one or more new chemical components in a new output trait. Consequently there is a need to provide an economical and efficient way to analyze seeds and crops at various locations along the supply chain, to identify and quantify the chemical composition and potentially other measurable properties of one or more output traits in genetically enhanced as well as conventional crops.
The present invention is directed to a process for identifying and quantifying one or more traits of an agricultural product, the process involving:
(a) providing a material to be analyzed;
(b) providing at least one transportable sensor capable of acquiring data for analysis of the material;
(c) providing a centralized database of chemometric models of trait data corresponding to the material;
(d) analyzing the material using the transportable sensor in order to obtain material trait data;
(e) providing a computer capable of storing the database of chemometric models of trait data, and computing the material characteristics using the chemometric models;
(f) providing a telecommunication link between sensor and computer; and
(g) displaying at least one result from the computed material characteristics in the vicinity of the sensor.
The sensors acquire data for spectroscopic analyses. Preferably, the transportable sensors are capable of performing secondary measurements for analysis of the material at a number of remote locations. The database of chemometric models is constructed from primary measurement data on one or more properties of interest of the agricultural product.
The invention is also directed to an analysis system for analyzing the agricultural products.
At a basic level, the system comprises one or more sensors, a central processor, and a telecommunications link. The sensors are used primarily for data acquisition, and the central processor for data analysis. The sensors are physically separated from the central processor, and are often remote from each other, though two or more sensors may be at a single location. The central processor stores a database of chemometric models, receives spectroscopic data acquired by the sensors about the particular material, computes characteristics or properties of the material using the chemometric models, and sends the results back to the sensors. The sensors and central processor communicate with each other via transmission of information over the telecommunications link. Presently, it is preferred that the information be transmitted in a digital form. The telecommunications link may be a hard wire telephone system, a tower or satellite based wireless system, or combinations sufficient to transmit a signal between any location and a central processor.
In the analysis of agricultural products, particularly for grain transactions, it is important to be able to determine the properties or characteristics of the crop with a minimum of time delay. Traditionally, the laboratory analysis of a particular agricultural product may result in two to four days delay from the time of sample acquisition to the final determination of properties or characteristics, primarily due to the time required to ship samples to a laboratory capable of performing the required analysis. It is also important that the properties of the agricultural product in one location be able to be compared with the properties of the same agricultural product at a separate location, often times separated by a substantial geographic distance. In the practice of the invention, it is therefore an advantage to be able to undertake analyses at multiple locations, whether or not geographically distant, and process the data acquired on a particular sample through a single central processor. Even where only a single sensor is connected to the central processor, that single sensor is able to acquire data and forward it to the central processor for manipulation, which results ultimately in a secondary data measurement having the sophistication of the chemometric model loaded into the central processor without the need of actually transporting the central processor into the field.
In the event that connection between the sensor and central processor is interrupted, a portable computer such as a properly configured laptop unit loaded with the most recent library of calibration models may be used to interface directly with the sensor. The laptop would thus function as a mobile central processor. This use would be considered as an alternative to a central processor; the preferred device would be the central processor.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a method of analysis for agricultural products which permits a measurement of one or more properties of materials located in remote locations by utilization of a single calibration model for each trait.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an analysis system which incorporates a display unit in combination with the sensor to provide analysis information generated by a central processor for a particular sample being measured, at the location where the measurement is taken.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an analysis system which provides for multiple remote sensors and a central processor which can generate analysis data on multiple agricultural products remote from each other but which are each analyzed using the same calibration model for the particular property being measured.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a method of analysis which permits the measurement of one or more properties of agricultural products located in remote locations utilizing a single calibration model for each trait.
These and other objects and advantages of the invention are provided in the detailed description of the invention and in the drawing.